Chuck Sweeny: Luring jobs to Rockford requires a team approach

“Scott and I, frankly, could be best friends and live together in the same house, and the city and county could still go to hell.” — Mayor Larry Morrissey, July 30, 2013

Chuck Sweeny

“Scott and I, frankly, could be best friends and live together in the same house, and the city and county could still go to hell.” — Mayor Larry Morrissey, July 30, 2013

That’s what Hizzoner said Tuesday at an early-morning meeting of businessmen and union leaders at the electrical workers hall. The Scott he’s talking about is Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen. They’re barely speaking.

I’m mildly amused at the thought of Larry as Felix and Scottie as Oscar, starring in “The Odd Couple” at Starlight Theater. But seriously, the mayor’s statement indicates that if the city and county are on the road to Hades, there’s nothing a better relationship between Morrissey and Christiansen could do to stop it.

In Isaac Guerrero’s story in today’s newspaper, the mayor said it’s more important that the city and county establish proper structures and cooperative agreements to develop the local economy so that collaboration continues long after he and Christiansen leave office.

But on Sept. 29, 2004, when announcing his candidacy for mayor, Morrissey said the times required a bold leader: “It’s time for advocacy. It’s time for action. ... We need new leadership and we need it now.” The speech promised an end to Rockford’s navel-gazing.

“This city has studied, consulted and task-forced itself to death! We are the epitome of ‘paralysis by analysis.’ And I think some of those studies are drummed up to give a false sense of accomplishment: like we are actually doing something when we are not.”

He was right. Unfortunately, it’s still true.

The same day the mayor and the chairman were talking in the Forest City, I traveled to the Hub City to meet with Jason Anderson, the economic development director who soon will announce that another business will come to Rochelle, creating hundreds more jobs in a small city that is a key employment center for people in Ogle, Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson and Lee counties.

Fortune 500 operations now dot former cornfields.

Anderson has little time for consultants. But he is always quick to remind me that the reason for the city’s success is the unity of purpose among local governments and business leaders. It’s something they call “Team Rochelle,” and it has an astonishing track record of growing the regional economy.

Rockford and Winnebago County lack similar purpose. We have all sorts of economic developers doing their own things in vacuums. Instead of a team trying to win the championship, we have golfers trying to beat one another.

We must bring more companies here by regionalizing our approach to economic development, to market all the benefits of locating in the Rock River Valley in one, united effort. If we want less crime and strong families, we’ve got to bring jobs here for the overwhelming percentage of our population without a college education, in addition to courting high-tech aviation-related firms.

I end with another quote from Morrissey’s 2004 speech: “The road ahead will be challenging but also a great adventure. We must not be afraid. We must be bold. We must make a city where our children will want to be.”